About TNW

TNW Sites

Wolfram Alpha adds powerful, interactive search results

The world’s geekiest search engine (that’s a ‘Computational Knowledge Engine’ to you), Wolfram Alpha has launched a new feature that allows you to manipulate data interactively.

Using the CDF format launched by Wolfram Labs recently, once you switch on CDF support in the top right-hand corner of the screen, you’ll be able to Interact with your results using sliders and controls. This allows you to: interact with your results using sliders and controls; rotate and zoom 3D graphics and visualizations, and manipulate results directly in your browser.

In practice, this could be a real boon for Wolfram Alpha’s core audience of people with a keen interest in science and mathematics. Examples of the features in use include the ability to rotate a 3D model of the molecular structure of dopamine; edge detect an image of Abraham Lincoln image with a variable radius, and explore the idea behind an equation, using a graph with movable sliders with change the variables concerned.

Interactivity isn’t available for all results yet, but where it is it really enhances the experience and deep understanding that Wolfram Alpha can provide.

Okay, it’s geeky, but as progress in the world of search results, this is hugely impressive. As Stephen Wolfram says in his blog post, “Sometimes being able to change parameters dynamically just enriches what is already rather complete output. But often, it’s what really makes the output meaningful.”

Martin Bryant was Editor-at-Large at The Next Web. He left the company in April 2016 for pastures new. You can find him on Twitter, on Snapchat as Martinsfp, subscribe to him on Facebook and visit his personal site. He's based in Manchester, UK and has a thing for quirky American music and Japanese video games.